It was a perfectly lovely day.

I DID have to get up at 3:30 again. I met Kenny out at the field at 4:30AM and we walked in. Jeff arrived sometime later. It was colder than on Friday, but with clear skies and a nice warm sun, it did not seem so. Another day of hens tromping around and feeding on the alfalfa until about 9:15 when I heard a shot from Ken's direction.
I waited a few minutes and then called him on the walkie talkie. I said "Did you get it?" He said " I sure did." We folded up at about 10:30AM. The only bird that got close to me all morning was a hen that almost joined me behind my blind. AND I wanted to be sure to get home to get a nap so I could be ALIVE for the rest of the day.

Anyway, I packed up and walked to Kenny's stand. He was folding up when I got there and had a nice 20 to 22 pound Tom lying there. Between us, we loaded his stuff and mind and walked to the cars with only two stops to let him rest a bit. (Dead weight turkeys are HARD to carry.) Then Ken and I waited for Jeff who had been unable to communicate with us on the walkie talkies and took a bit longer because he walked over to OUR sites from his own before making his way to the cars.

I got home at noon and with a shower and one errand managed to get down for a nice nap at about 1:30. I slept for about an hour so was rested for the evening.

Tomorrow is Dick's birthday. He will be 76. Dick and Brenda, Bobbie and Bill and Jim and Michelle took us to Rupps on 8th Street in Sheboygan for dinner. Such a lovely evening. The food was good, even though the waitress tried to burn Michelle, ( a way to hot plate) and some of the potatoes came in time for dessert. Good company is what makes the meal and we had plenty of that.

Then we came back here to enjoy a bit of the Baileys and a cup of de caf before calling it a night.

For some reason, I remembered the incident where my dear departed mother-in-law, Lily, served marguaritas to her sister,Ruth, and some of the ladies her sister worked with at the school lunch program.

Lil made a round or two of marguaritas and then ran out of tequila - SO - to "fill in" she took some 150 proof alchohol that Victor, my father-in-law had gotten in Mexico and used that in place of the tequila. Needless to say these ladies got bombed out of their minds. So Lily piled them in her jeep which did not have a top and drove them around Costa Mesa for a while to sober them up. We asked her later why she wasn't drunk too and she said that she had more sense than to drink that stuff.

Happy Sunday

Mary

We spent a bit less time out in the fields today. Just Randy and myself. I went to the same spot that I was at on Thursday, Randy went over where Jeff saw the big one. We sat and watched for four hours. Then Randy said he was getting restless and my feet were cold so we left at about 9:00.

Jeff called tonight. He got there at about 10 and stayed until about 1:00. He used Ken's tent and said that he saw a huge Tom up by my spot and near Randy's Thursday spot just a'dancing and preening and prancing. It was too far away for him and he could not get it to come with his calls. Ya just never know. If I could have held out, just MAYBE I would have my big Tom.

Tomorrow, Jeff, Ken and I are going out for one more try. I am not going quite as far in. I am going just above the creek in the planted field. I chased one out of a roost this morning there and just hope that he will be back.

I was really tired and took a nice nap this afternoon. Dick and I had leftovers for supper, so I was able to relax today. Good thing because tomorrow I will hunt in the morning and then the kids are taking Dick (and me) out for his birthday dinner. We are going to Rupps Downtown. Should be nice, I haven't been there in quite some time but they have always had good food.

Haven't seen Dick and Brenda since Christmas. It will be great to be with them again.

Have a nice weekend. All my love

Mary

Well, the first of my three turkey hunting days is over. I got up at 3:30AM to meet the guys out at the field. BOY AM I TIRED.

All we saw were a bunch of hens. And there were a bunch of them. Actually, Jeff saw and got a shot off at a tom early in the morning, but he missed. This is the first year he has ever gone turkey hunting, so that was a real thrill for him.

After I got home, I took a shower and then Dick and I went grocery shopping. It really was our only chance and we were running short of milk and a few other things.

Tomorrow, I have to get up at 3:30AM again to meet Randy out there. We will try again.

Went to choir tonight too, thank heavens, we had a short practice.

Anyway, I am too tired to be very creative tonight. So I will just say. Have a nice Friday and perhaps I will be more awake tomorrow night.

Love

Mary

A wonderful day in Milwaukee.

Our tour was totally different than we thought. We thougth we were going to spend the whole day at the Museum but as it turned out, this was our itinerary:

We left Sheboygan at 8:00AM and were taken directly to the Basilica of St. Josephat. Dick and I had seen it once before when we went on the Church tour a few years ago. Then they still had quite a bit of scaffolding up as the renovation was still being done. It is absolutely beautiful. Maybe on Sunday, (after hunting and
Dick's birthday weekend is over) I will send a picture of their rose window and also a picture of the rose window from the National Cathedral. They are both so beautiful.

We left the Basilica and were taken to the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum & Renaissance Garden. This is an old home on Lake Michigan that was once owned by Lloyd Smith who was owner of the AO Smith Company. It was a beautiful home and the view is spectacular. They do rent out for weddings and special celebrations. Our docent was very knowledgeable and full of fun facts.

THEN we went to Giovanni's Restuarant for a meal that was quite good and very pleasant, though Dick was not really too impressed with the sauce on their pasta dish, I thought it was quite good but he was very indifferent about it. Their tiramasu was VERY good.

Lastly, we were dropped off at the Miwaukee Museum to experience the St. Peter and the Vatican exhibit. Actually we had free run of the museum, but by the time we finished that it was almost time to go. The pieces displayed and the history behind them provided was wonderful. It is so special to have things like this so close to us. AND even better that the bus companies have the tours. We love them because we don't have to worry about ANYTHING. Driving, getting there on time, parking, meals. All handled by very capable experts. Such a deal.


"The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house."
--Jeff Foxworthy

Wish me luck at the turkey hunt tomorrow.

Love

Mary

It was in the mid 60s today. Very good for the lawn after the wonderful rain. It really will go crazy when we get more sun. I actually had to cut the morning walk short because it was still raining a bit.

Went to see Dr. Casey today and my arm is getting better. I will go back in three weeks instead of the two that we have been stuck at since the darn thing started hurting. I can tell it is better because my pistol shooting in staying pretty steady and getting better overall.

Today was Market Day too. Those were my only two outings. As long as I was out I went to the post office to mail a quilting pattern to Barbara and an entry in a poetry contest and to the bank. With the gas prices at the highs they are it is best to consolidate errands as much as one can.

The rest of the day was spent gathering things for tomorrow's trip to Milwaukee. I am going to take the camera. I hope that we can take pictures of the items in the Vatican exhibit. We are spending the whole day at the museum. First the exhibit, then lunch, then the IMAX theatre and then the rest of the museum. I assume that the museum has good lunches.

I also got everything together for my Turkey hunting on Thursday. Do you believe that we meet at 4:20AM? Uncle Kenny says we need to be in place before 5:00 as we can start shooting (If we see something of course) at 5:10. However, it is pretty difficult to tell if it is a Jake or Tom that early as it is still rather dusky.

I received word the other day that the two poems that I sent to the Wisconsin Poet's Calendar were not selected so I will share them with you. I still like them and will include them in the book that I am thinking of self publishing this summer.

Laughing Spring

If all the trees could laugh and sing
And all the clouds could dance
And rabbits all grew furry wings
And squirrels wore underpants.


If dogs meowed and kitties barked
And birds crawled on their bellies
Then all the tales that nature sparked
Would not be worth the telling.

I got a message from Jim's Michelle who is all the way in Richmond VA on a business trip. She told Jim tonight that she got the President's Award for innovation tonight. Quite an honor.

Love

Mary

Chelsea and I had a very nice walk this morning. It was not raining then, but did pick up as the day went on. The only problem I had was that she woke me up WAY to early. 5:25AM. The trouble with digital clocks is that you know the EXACT time.

Bible Study was very stimulating this morning. We even got into the immigration issue and we all agree that the important term here, that seems to have been forgotten by the media is that we were talking about ILLEGAL immigrants. Illegal is illegal. I have no problem with immigrants. I also believe that if they intend to live here they need to speak English. English is our language. I also think that they can learn our National Anthem in English and should fly the United States flag not a foreign one. It should be flown it in a proper respectful manner. People who cross the borders illegally into our country should be either imprisoned or deported. I heard that Mexico handles the illegal immigrants from their southern border by imprisoning them for two years and then deporting them. I don't see massive protests about peoples rights in Mexico.

We had some great rain midday. It is nice to see everything turning green again. Now we will get a warm day and everything will go bonkers and I will have to be out trimming and weeding like a crazy person.

Tonight I joined Ken, Randy and Jeff out at the 57 and J to check out the lay of the land for Turkey hunting. Part of the fields are planted in alfalfa so it is a bit easier walking out. My feet got all wet and muddy anyway. We did see a couple of hens working their way accross one of the fields. I can't go on the first day so Jeff is going to sit where I usually do and I will go there on Thursday. It is supposed to rain on Wednesday BUT Thusday they are predicting just a cloudy day. On the way out Jeff stepped on a bunny. It squeaked just like a squeaky toy and ran away. I am sure it was not hurt badly because the ground is so soft and wet. We also found the carcass of a deer. The coyotes have been feeding on it and someone has taken the horns.

Did I tell you that I have my own decoy and my own camo half fence this year? Every year I get a little more equipped.

Have a nice day tomorrow. It is a quiet one for me.

All my love

Mary

It has rained gently all day today. A welcome rain that is soaking into the ground and will result in rampant green as soon as it stops and the sun sends a little warmth upon this earth of ours.

However, it has left me rather tired and feeling sludgy (is that a word). I am minded of a turtle who kind or plods along just slowly looking left to right and not being feeling any urgency no matter the flurry and hurry around him. Bobbie and I went out to work at the Rhine Club today but we were able to come home early because of the rain and the fact that the only people hanging around were a few members playing cards. They can get their own beer and lock up as easy as we could have. SO we were home about 2:00 and I took a nap for all the good that did.

We pretty much finished up the chili and ate the last of the rhubarb pie for supper. An easy day altogether. Nice on such an overcast day.

Stopped to see Mom after Mass this morning. We had a nice visit, as usual. We were discussing how Courtney seemed to be drawn to the neediest of God's creatures, both animal and human and how much this was like her Grandfather.

Mother remembers Dad, when he was the president of the union at Gilson Industries in Plymouth. These union members would come to talk to Dad about their problems. Mom said that sometimes their problems were so silly or so self imposed or so stupid. But Dad would listen to them. He would patiently sit as they went through their problems and he would advise them or help them as best he could. I have NEVER met a person that knew Dad as the President of that Union who did not consider Dad his "best friend." They adored him and it was because of his ability to make the person talking to him feel that what he was presenting to Dad was important and that Dad felt that he was important. I tried to remember that lesson when I was a mortgage banker and sometimes the people who came to me to buy their first home were really kind of pitiful. I think because of Dad's gift, I was able to help many people get homes that might not otherwise been able to do so.

Have a lovely week

Yours

Mary